Happy New Year everyone! Who is excited for 2013?! Well you know I am! Not only is 2013 the year of celebrating Italian Culture in America, but I believe it is the year of Indie Italy music all over! Let’s start 2013 with some big plans! Well 2013 will mostly be about bringing the newest bands from Italy, but I am also in the works of making plans to travel to the Indie festivals while documenting the whole experience, and also helping bring live performances of Italian Indie bands here to the states. All of this is still in the early planning stages so any help from you would like to offer is greatly appreciated.

So let’s get into one of my most listened to Italian Indie groups il Triangolo. il Triangolo plays a very interesting sound that incorporates oldies style 60’s music. They do it in a way that sounds a bit new age like in their song “Canzone per un soldato” that starts off with a very classical Italian strumming pattern and ends with a full on heavy electric guitar.

Bringing back the sounds of the past generation of Italian rock music and blending it with a more indie/modern style is something I think a few bands try here in the States but not as much as I would like. The Strokes and The Shins are some of my favorite American bands that have incorporated this style of bringing back an older style of garage rock into their music. So if you are a fan of il Triangolo’s style you may want to give them a listen.

What truly lead me to really get into il triangolo was their performance of “Quando Isacco grido contro il popolo.” The simple potency of this song struck a chord with me, and I was impressed with how good they make banging on a suitcase with drumsticks sound.

I highly suggest getting your hands on “Tutte Le Canzoni,” meaning “All the Songs,” which funny enough the name of their latest album from 2012. The whole album ranges from fast paced songs like their catchy melody of “Giurami” (Swear to me) to their last track “Una Sola Preghiera” (Only a Prayer), which has a much slower pace and much more traditional Italian classical sound. I played this album for my Italian father who grew up listening to Neapolitan folk music, while we were traveling during the Holidays and he approved. I would suggest any other Italian-Americans to bring this retro Italian Indie music to their Italian parents or grandparents to listen to together.

I am extremely excited to write about this month’s band! I Cani is an indie pop, Synth pop group from Rome led by singer Roman Nicholas Caontessa. The reason I’m so excited to talk about I Cani is because they touch on a certain subculture referred to as “Hipster.” The term, defined best by Wikipedia, references, “subculture associated with independent music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, liberal, or independent political views…” etc.

When I first created Indie Italy, I always tried to find connections between this subculture of Hipsters and independent music here in the United States, and the scene of independent music in Italy. I even created a poster for Indie Italy using a photo of my dad, when he first came to NY from Italy, with photo-shopped “hipster” looking glasses and an acoustic guitar. For me, the term “Hipster” is a funny word to use because it can be taken so many different ways. One can call someone a Hipster in a negative way, judging them based on their lifestyle – what they read, what they wear, what they eat, even being artistically driven. Whatever the case may be, I find myself in this Hipster environment quite frequently here in New York due to the shows I go to and the bands I listen to.

I Cani’s song, “Hipsteria,” really hit the nail on the head when it came to finding this reference in Italian music. The song, I believe, talks about a girl from Rome, named Catherine, who is a part of this Hipster subculture. It makes references of “Andrò a New York a lavorare da American Apparel” – going to New York to work at American Apparel (A popular clothing store that many Hipsters frequent). The song goes on to make other references supporting this Hipster lifestyle with a mention of using a polaroid camera (a popular artistic approach of making a photograph look more vintage) and also, “vado al parco e leggo David Foster Wallace” – going to the park to read David Foster Wallace, a well known novelist and short story writer popular among this subculture. The song finishes with “I’m going to New York to work or study. I’ll tell my parents that I’m wrong here in Rome.”

I Cani’s sound is very electronic with some heavy power pop mixed in. They have extreme amounts of energy on stage that the audience seems to feed off of. Drums, synth and vocals are the loudest pieces of the music that they make – similar to one of my favorite Brooklyn, NY bands, Matt and Kim, an indie dance duo who’s only instruments are drums and keys. I have seen Matt and Kim play small shows and big shows, and every time they bring the same energy, which I imagine I Cani doing, as well.

Whether you are a Hipster, not a hipster, Italian, American, or whatever, I always say listen to the music that you want to listen to and just dress the way you want to. I highly suggest checking out I Cani’s music on their SoundCloud here.

First off I would like to apologize for my long absence. I am sure you have heard on the news but the New York area, was hit with by Hurricane Sandy this week and it has been somewhat crazy around here. Everything is fine for me now, but many family and friends are still without power. While without power and watching this storm from my window the other day, the Italian Indie group “Veivecura” came on my iPhone and their music had a big impact on me this week, emotionally. “VeiveCura” is a project lead by Davide Iacono, the pianist and writer of the group. Their song “Di Roccia” is a powerful, artistic song with lyrics that is a bit more abstract than the other bands I tend to talk about. Di Roccia is a short lyric song but very calming and almost poetic. The use of a full band of piano, violin, trumpets, drums, bass and guitar make their sound into the hypnotic, orchestra-like group that can keep you calm and relaxed, while its powerful upbringings in the breakdown evoke powerful emotions.

Now I am a big fan of all types of music under the genre of “rock-alternative” here in the States, but lately I have been listening to a lot indie folk/experimental rock bands that are here in the states and international . One of my favorite American experimental bands, lead by Brandon Bethancourt, called “Alaska in Winter” which infuses a similar formula of classical piano and soft lyrics into their genre to create a powerful piece of work just like Veivecura.

This fairly new experimental genre under the umbrella of indie music is a nice step back and a different taste than indie music I have listened to previously. (It’s almost as if I wouldn’t tell any of my hardcore friends I listen to this music but as soon as they find out they would end up putting it on their iPods anyway.)

Nonetheless Veivecura has a very comforting sound to listen to and I relate them to great experimental bands from all over. The rest of their album Tutto e’ Vanita, which is available on bandcamp, is definitely worth the listen.

Thanks for reading everybody! If you enjoyed this article, and haven’t already, please like the Indie Italy facebook page and follow our twitter. Thanks!

Fine Before You Came (FBYC) is a post-rock screamo group from the North in Milano. I was recently introduced to them and from the first listen of their first song, “Dublino,” off their album “Ormai,” I became hooked. Their post-rock style with heavy energy reminded me of one of my favorite American bands Thursday. Compared with FBYC, Thursday has heavy energy and powerful drums to lead into their songs. With Filippo Rieder from FBYC on drums keeping the time of this heavy band how could I not start to get absorbed?

Besides their powerful music, what really led me to write about FBYC was their live performance. Lead singer Jacopo Lietti brings so much liveliness to his fans that they scream their hearts out to the lyrics of each song. A combination of good energy and good music is not easy to find, but show stunts like Lietti jumping into the crowd during the breakdown of “Prestazione Occasionale” shows that these guys are ready to have fun and get the crowd ready.

You can see from their live videos that FBYC has a great fan base. A lot of their performances can be found online but like many underground musicians you won’t find any official music videos.

I highly suggest getting your hands on “Ormai” – their latest album from this year. It’s filled with hard hitting lyrics like their track “Capire Settembre,” Italian for: Understanding September. This song is about searching for what you believe in, looking for it and trying to make sense of it, but realizing, “capire per quale motivo settembre non fa per me,” September is not for me.

I hope you all enjoyed this article and will enjoy listening to Fine Before You Came as much as I have.

So I knew it’s been way to long since my last update on this blog but a lot as happened this summer. I made my forth trip out to Italy to meet up with friends and family which was of course great. I got some promotions done and visited a few other countries as well. Along the way I received an email from a guy that is part of Indie Roccia, a development project about Indie Italian music from Italy. He loved the idea of Indie Italy and wanted me to participate in Indie Roccia. After many emails back and forth this month I am excited to be part of this team. I will continue to write and work on the Indie Italy site, posts will also be on the Indie Roccia site available in Italian.

For those of you who have followed me on this journey from the beginning I thank you, to all my new followers welcome. I have written a welcome post for Indie Roccia which I would like to share. Thanks again to you all!

The earliest memory I have from my childhood is sitting in the back seat of my father’s car listening to old classical Italian folk music from the 1950’s. The music that my dad grew up listening to in the country he was born in, Italy. Twenty something years later, I drive my own car blasting music from the same country where my father was born that sounds absolutely nothing like what my father’s music. My name is Joseph Vinciguerra, I was born and raised in New York with a strong passion for music and Italian culture.

Being born and raised in New York as an Italian American meant my family followed traditions and were very passionate about our culture. If I can briefly use an English idiom I would be considered the “black sheep” in my Italian American family. I never was the type to follow the traditional paths. If someone says to go left I go right. I am not stubborn I just live my life differently from my family. I had different interests than everyone in my family. Most of all I took on an interest in the alternative music scene.

Music was such a large part of my life growing up, and I knew I wanted to learn, play and make music just like my favorite bands. At the age of 12 I purchased my first drum set and little did I know how much this would be changing my life. From then, I got heavily involved in the underground local music scene playing shows in and out of bands playing different genres from punk, indie-rock, alternative, and heavy rock. Music was everywhere around me and I couldn’t get enough of it. New York had a great music scene (and still does), but I knew I needed to venture off and as the bands I was in started to fall and crumble, I knew it was time for me to do some soul searching.

When my father came to New York many relatives stayed in Italy, so I knew this would be a perfect opportunity for me to meet the family that I had only talked to over. I made my first trip out to Italy in 2007 and have been in love with the culture and traveling across the country. I lived and studied and traveled around cities all over Italy, and have made many great friends in the places that I have traveled.

Traveling around Italy I noticed that I heard a lot of American music and sometimes some Italian pop music. But when I came back home I started looking for Italian artist who created music similar to my own style. From the first second I started to hear the genre of what we call “Indie Italian Music” I knew I had to tell people.

When I first started stumbling upon these bands I knew I had to spread the word across the ocean and let people know. Shortly after, I created Indie Italy to focus on the Independent Italian music scene throughout Italy and Europe. Indie Italy is a way for me and people around me to get more involved with Italian Indie music and to enrich the name of what Italian culture is on TV now a days.

I am extremely excited for Indie Italy to join up with Indie-Roccia. I am also thrilled to give you my side of view of this genre of music being compared with American artists. Music is an extreme passion of mine along with my heritage. To be given the opportunity to talk about a mix of my two biggest passions is a blessing, and its because of all of you. I look forward to getting to know many of you!

Dente, whose real name is Giuseppe Peveri is one of the biggest Italian indie genre artist in this underground scene. The reason behind his reputation in this community is simple; he is an amazing artist with a great sound. The closest comparison I can make to Dente in American music is probably John Mayer. Even for live performance Dente brings his funny personality that the humorous John Mayer brings on stage as well.

To my followers out there that are using Indie Italy as a helpful tool to learn Italian, the benefit with Dente is his slow, relaxing, and easy to understand lyrics. In the community of Indie music in Italy, Dente could be considered the leader, as he is known for his cameo performances in other Indie bands that play around Italy.

Dente previously brought his guitar skills to various bands around Italy before entering his solo career. The sound before his solo career was definitely heavier than his current style.

The availability of videos and songs on the Internet is fairly easy with Dente, compared to some other Italian bands that I’ve blogged about. Really, all of his music videos are found on the internet including many of his live performances.

Style-wise Dente is a mix of smooth folk and funky sound. If you’d like to listen to more of Dente’s music, check out his facebook page and youtube channel.